ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 will examine the development of the youth justice system from the end of the twentieth century to the present day. Chapter 3 will examine the youth justice system during the 1980s when law and policy encouraged diverting young people from court and from custody, with the result that the proportion of young offenders in custody decreased dramatically. This chapter will examine how and why this approach to youth offending changed dramatically during the 1990s. From the mid-1990s youth justice law and policy became focussed on a punitive response to young people’s behaviour. Chapter 3 will examine how this change has influenced and shaped the current youth justice system.
